Angel of Destiny – Zendikar Rising MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

This is a very interesting card and a very unique one. Its operation in 1v1 is fairly obvious, but I should point out that there’s nothing that prevents you from using other spells, abilities, or creatures to damage a different player from the one you attack with the Angel. You can even use it politically, if someone agrees to help you charge up and then eliminate someone who’s a bigger problem for both of you. Of course, you could then turn around and use that against them because you’re already in Lights of Orion mode, but I guess that’s the risk we all take in formats with politics or consciousness of things outside the game.

I’m not sure this is quite enough to make a major splash in constructed, but I could certainly see it going in lifegain-themed decks in Commander, to come down after the main part of the gameplan is done and just start one-shotting people.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5

Well, this is an interesting white mythic, and it screams to be abused somehow. The idea of Angel of Destiny is to open up a completely different avenue to victory: gaining a stupid amount of life. The trigger is nice because it goes off if you’ve attacked, regardless of Fog-effect shenanigans, and you always stand to benefit more than your opponent. (Note that you can still kill through combat damage, as this is a triggered life gain, not lifelink.) A 2/6 with evasion and double strike is passable enough as a body, as it dodges most cheap burn spells.

It’s hard to really have a read on how good Angel of Destiny ultimately is, because it’s still a fair number of hoops to get through. For the “Life Gain.dec” casual build, it’s a threatening win condition that can pop a lethal swing out of nowhere, but it’s still five mana and asks for a lot of set-up (which likely mitigates its Constructed strength). It’s neat and potentially powerful, but I’m not sold on it being a force in Standard (or other formats).

Constructed: 2.25
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander: 4 (probably best in a Boros shell for repeated combat action)